But Sarah was alright. Mother and daughter found each other at a local fairground where students were being bussed. Cobb hugged her daughter tightly and wept.

That day, as details of the shooting were still emerging, US President Barack Obama seized the opportunity to lecture the country and politicians on the need to pass tighter rules on gun possession, something Congress has failed to do during his tenure.

"It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun," he told reporters at the White House. "This is something we should politicise."

Christina, who had nearly faced every parent's worst nightmare, was livid. "It was disgusting to me," she says of the president's remarks. "He totally went at it the wrong way."

Complexities and contrasts

If you ever want to know why introducing new federal gun legislation has been so difficult in the US, there is probably no better example of why than the story of the Cobb family.

They are Republicans, own guns, and even though they are personally scarred by the Umpqua tragedy, they are totally against any new legislation that makes it harder to get one.

So much so, that Christina joined hundred of people on Friday to jeer Obama as his helicopter touched down in Roseburg on his way to meet with families of the Umpqua victims.

Cobb's husband and son weren't there. They were hunting.

The complexities and contrasts surrounding the national gun-control debate are even more stark when you consider where they live.

Oregon is viewed as a very left-leaning state. It allowed gay marriage before the US Supreme Court did, just this past summer, and pot is legal.